Tag Archives: Angel Pagan

After raving about their inspired play and fundamental execution the past few days, I should have known last night was coming. It was a virtual lock.

DICKEY: In a 1-10 rut at home.

A real stinker on so many fronts.

R.A. Dickey can’t win at home and his disappointing season continued last night, and it began early. He also didn’t help himself with his defense. I like the intangibles Dickey brings and his heart, but realistically he’s a No. 5 starter at best. But, he’s ranked higher than that with the Mets, which tells you a lot about their rotation.

I like that Dickey is a stand-up guy, and he showed that again after the game.

“Just a real sloppy game for us, collectively,” Dickey said. “And I need to own up myself. I made a poor throw in the second that led to two runs and I had an opportunity to drive in a run with the bases loaded and nobody out and I didn’t get that done. So, look no further than this locker right here because I could have left that game very easily winning.”

Well, that might be a stretch considering the other meltdowns. When you get 15 hits and receive four walks, you must score more than five runs. Thirteen left on will cost you every time.

I don’t know what was worse, the Mets’ inability to hit in the clutch or Bobby Parnell, who was raked again last night. One game, he’s light out, and the next he’s lit up. So much is expected of him, but he’s not getting it done.

And, there was Ruben Tejada’s non-slide, which can’t be excused.

Even so, the Mets made a late surge, which means they didn’t lay down, and that’s been one of the positives about this team.

On the injury front, Angel Pagan left the game with back spasms, but said he hopes to play this afternoon. I wouldn’t count on it.

The Mets have already done their heavy lifting for this year’s trade deadline when they unloaded Francisco Rodriguez’s $17.5 million 2012 option and dealt Carlos Beltran to San Francisco for the Giants’ top prospect Zack Wheeler,

Even should Wheeler never make it with the Mets, GM Sandy Alderson has emerged as one of the winners at this summer’s trade market. In ridding themselves of Rodriguez’s option, they’ve gained $14.5 million worth of payroll flexibility (they would have had a $3.5 million buyout had he stayed and not made 55 appearances to finish games.)

That’s not nearly enough to re-sign Jose Reyes, but it does sweeten the pot and offer money for other areas of need, say the bullpen or another starter.

The Mets have additional pieces they could deal a contender, such as Jason Isringhausen, Tim Brydak and Angel Pagan, but it appears they will keep a pat hand for another month and continue with the objective of playing aggressive baseball.

The odds are long for a wild-card, but should the Mets slide further away, they can always deal those chips in a waiver trade. For now, the suspenseful part of their summer is over, they’ve dealt Beltran. The rest of the season is to build on the good feelings they’ve generated for being competitive and savor the victories in the moves they did make.

Jose Reyes is back in the lineup tonight against St. Louis, with Ruben Tejada being optioned to Buffalo. No surprise in the names, but with how Reyes has responded to injuries, I thought they might have dragged this out another day or two as a precaution.

Carlos Beltran is also back in to give another audition to prospective suitors before the July 31 deadline. Atlanta is one of the teams reportedly interested, but unless there’s another team involved would the Mets trade directly with the Braves on this big a deal?

That would also include the Phillies, whom I would be shocked to see get Beltran from the Mets. Other teams with reported interest, who have the resources to deal, are Boston, Detroit, Texas and San Francisco, and that’s the group where I see him going.

Reportedly, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have a desire for a bat, but I don’t think they have the prospects to swing such a trade.

Beltran, who has been out with the flu, returns tonight against St. Louis.

Last year the prevailing midseason issue after the break was whether Jerry Manuel could take control of his team and guide them either into the postseason, or to at least make a wild-card run.

It didn’t happen. On this date last season, the Mets broke a three-game losing streak coming out of the All-Star break with a series-salvaging 4-3 victory at San Francisco in 10 innings.

The game featured an atrocious call by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi that swiped a victory from the Giants. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Cuzzi called out Travis Ishikawa at the plate, saying he slide under Henry Blanco’s tag.

Replays proved otherwise, but most damning was Blanco’s comments: “He was safe all the way. Everybody was surprised when he was called out.’’

With the victory, the Mets moved to 49-43, five games behind in the National East. Not bad on the surface, but the Mets were in the midst of losing seven of nine games, and would go on to lose six of their next eight, all on the road.

This season, the Mets dropped two of three coming out of the break to Philadelphia, and overall have dropped five of their last seven games.

The Mets close out July with a make-up game tonight at Citi Field, followed by three home games with St. Louis. Then they are on the road to Florida for three, Cincinnati for three and Washington for three.

Even with the positive news about Jose Reyes’ rehab game tonight, the Mets are in for an interesting couple of weeks until the trade deadline.

Last year they unraveled, but they had little to give up as nobody wanted Oliver Perez or Luis Castillo. This season there are more attractive things on the Mets’ rosters for contenders.

Carlos Beltran is currently the big prize. He’s healthy, playing well and has adjusted to a new team. The Mets could bring a prospect or two in return, more, if they extend a negotiating window to the team in attempt to land Beltran long term. Of course, Beltran’s agent is Scott Boras, and his preference in similar situations is to play the open market.

Boras is not likely to do anything to help the Mets, who will not receive compensatory draft picks if he leaves as a FA.

Reyes, who hopes to play tomorrow, is also available, but the Mets would like to keep him, and will do so unless they are bowled over. If that were to happen, the team would want a chance to negotiate with Reyes long term. The Mets will get more of a package in this situation rather than if they sell him to a team as a rental.

The Mets have several other players teams could covet in support or bullpen roles, including: Angel Pagan, Scott Hairston, Tim Byrdak, Jason Isringhausen, and tonight’s starter, Chris Capuano.